


For All Have Sinned

by matriarchofmatrices



Series: Chronicles of Joshua Graham [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Awkward Romance, Eventual Smut, Everyone Is Gay, Gay Sex, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-03-17 01:39:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13648764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matriarchofmatrices/pseuds/matriarchofmatrices
Summary: "He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh"  (2 Nephi 4:20–21, Book of Mormon).





	1. Chapter 1

 

Graham was pretty sick and tired of sand.

  
  


As he poured pink-orange dirt out of his boot, he cursed the Grand Canyon for torturing him as it had. Sand caught in his hair and the hair of his arms, and the sun punished him for breathing in its vicinity. What skin he left exposed burned quickly, and all he had was agave and pine tar to soothe himself. He wilted in the sweltering heat, meandering aimlessly downriver then back upriver for hours each day, as he waited for this contact to arrive. 

 

The mesquite offered scant shade, but he often read below the bony, dry trees. It had taken weeks for Graham to travel from New Canaan to the Grand Canyon, and now he felt as though the men he was supposed to meet had abandoned him, or died on the way here.

 

However, as Joshua shook the sand out of his boots, his bare soles on the dirt and pebbles as he sat on a rock, he saw figures moving in the distance. 

 

“Are you the Mormon?”

 

“Yes,” he replied.

 

They neared. He counted seven heads. 

 

“I’m Joshua Graham,” he said warily.

 

“Bill Calhoun.” He was at the front. All eight men were wearing variants of a doctor’s lab coat, with red crosses sewn into the shoulders, yellowed from sweat and the colored dust of the Canyon. So they were who he was waiting for. Calhoun had burnt sienna skin like the reddish-brown layers of sediment up the sides of the Canyon, gleaming with a sheen of sweat, and short, cropped Afro hair.

 

“Edward Sallow.” The man who introduced himself second was pale, now a flushed petal pink from sunburn. He had straw blonde hair that laid on his head in puffy, soft curls, and bright eyes.

 

“Lucas,” said one. “Kyle,” another. The rest of them were named Clay, Cliff, John and Harry.

 

Joshua nodded and shook hands with them all. Sallow’s grip was firmer than the rest, and his hazel eyes stared into his own for a lingering moment. He felt as though he was being assessed. 

 

“Well, let’s get going,” Calhoun called out. “It’ll be a few days out of the Canyon.”

 

They began their trek.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Joshua, Edward and Bill had become good friends over the trip, having basically become the three leaders of the nine-man expedition due to their talkativeness.

At the top of the Canyon, Joshua turned around and took a look over the landscape. The canyon walls were painted in warm colors, smoothed-over rock layered with burnt reds and dusty oranges and yellows. The walls gracefully sloped into foothills, lowering into the dark winding river that had carved the Canyon from bare stone so long ago - a beast that now was peaceful.

 

The wind whipped through his hair. He saw Edward’s puffy white curls lifted up by the dry air like they were clouds circling his face.

 

Edward had a sharp, defined nose and cheekbones. His eyebrows were mousy brown and drawn downward, tilted at an angle, looking eternally exasperated, his thin lips often downturned. They spent a lot of time together, as Joshua was interested in the Followers and Edward had a lot to say about them. He was equally annoyed by and interested in his contrarian manner.

 

“I don’t see what this whole mission’s point is,” he would complain on purple-blue dusks, where the world was fading into black through a slow and colorful process, as the expedition sat around a garbage fire. “What use is it?”

 

“To speak to the tribes allows us to teach them,” Joshua would respond.

 

“Let’s help NCR citizens before we help the tribals, why don’t we?”

 

Bill always quieted them, saying all people deserve wellness, and sent the men to their sleeping bags.

 

Joshua taught those interested about his faith. He read the Bible and the Book of Mormon to them when they would listen, and he even ventured to offer lessons, sermons and teachings to the Followers, in hopes they’d bring God back to the NCR with them. Edward was more interested in his books than most, as he was a cultural anthropologist, and most of the others were linguistics-oriented or medical doctors.

 

They spoke with tribes, Joshua acting as interpreter and median, to learn their culture and language. Often a tribe had at least a few ‘scholars' to speak with, to teach new medicine. Many were welcoming, if wary, but rarely hostile. They were showered with hospitality after sharing their knowledge and gifts.

 

Joshua, Bill and Edward watched the Blackfoot tribe dance from afar one night, where the moon was full and white and the stars shined brightly on the mesas. The tribe of olive-skinned people, clad in motorcycle leathers and tire rubber, clapped and shuffled their feet in the red sand, shaking their heads and hips with the guttural chanting and throaty singing of elders. The others had joined in, tapping their shoes together, their white coats flapping in the still night air.

 

“Look at them,” Edward said. “Why do they regress to primitive society like this?”

 

Bill said sternly, “The War restarted humanity. Wiped the slate clean. We have to begin at ground zero.”

 

Edward responded with a curt, “The NCR isn’t like this. We expanded on knowledge, from holotapes and Vaults. We have trains. Why didn’t they?”

 

Joshua didn’t have an answer. He sat and listened.

 

The tribe’s chief came up to Joshua just before everyone was heading to bed, and they spoke briefly. The chief became upset at some point during the conversation, though at what he wasn’t sure, and stormed off. Not thinking much of it, Joshua slept as well.

 

=

 

When they awoke, however, Joshua could immediately tell something was wrong. The camp outside their tent was silent, and his companions inside it were awake, but still laying in their sleeping bags, eyes wide. He lifted his head, turning to look about the inside of the tent, and found himself looking up at a tribal with a club in his hands. It came down on Joshua’s head, and his vision went black.


End file.
